Toxic Waste

The Dangers of Toxic Waste

In 1962, Rachel Carson, a biologist, ecologist, and writer, penned Silent Spring. The book described how DDT entered the food chain and accumulated in the fatty tissues of animals, including human beings, and caused cancer and genetic damage. Carson wrote that a single application on a crop not only killed targeted insects for months but also destroyed countless more and remained toxic in the environment even after it was diluted by rainwater. Carson argued that DDT and other pesticides had contaminated the entire world food supply. A powerful chapter titled “A Fable for Tomorrow” portrayed a nameless American town where all life—from fish to birds to apple blossoms to human children—had been “silenced” by the insidious effects of DDT. Silent Spring provoked widespread public alarm. Carson's conclusion that pesticides had contaminated the entire world food supply raised awareness of the dangers of persistent bioaccumulative toxins.

Well before Silent Spring, the risks of toxic wastes were evident. For example, lead was a known toxin in the 19th century, with reformers documenting lead poisoning in the workforce and leading cleanup efforts. Nevertheless, auto companies, oil companies, and the government authorized the manufacture, distribution, and use of tetraethyl lead in gasoline in the 1920s. Health officials warned against depositing millions of pounds of inorganic lead dust onto the streets from car exhaust. However, the lead industry pointed to lead's importance to the automotive and petrochemical industries, calling tetraethyl lead a gift from God.

Similarly, despite evidence of lead paint's toxic effects on children as early as the 1920s, the lead industry campaigned for decades to deter concerns. The National Lead Company, manufacturer of Dutch Boy paints and lead pigments, produced children's coloring books, including The Dutch Boy's Lead Party, extolling the benefits of lead paint. The federal government finally banned lead in paint and gasoline in the 1970s and 1980s.

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